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the University with a visit, being regaled
with spiced wine. It appears from a work
published some years since, and entitled,
Oz01iiana, or Anecdote&
of
the University of
Ozford,
that in the .Rolls or Accounts of
some Colleges of ancient foundation, a sum
of money is frequently met with charged
"pro
8fJeciebw,"
that is, for spices used in
their entertainments; for in those days
as well as the present, spiced wine wa11 a
very fashionable beverage. lo the Compu–
tus of Maxtoke Priory, anno 1447, is the
following curious entry; " Item pro vino
cretico cum speciebus et confectis datis
diyersis generosis in die Saocti Dionysii
quando
Le fole
domini Montfordes erat hie,
et faceretjocositates suas in camera Orioli."
"
ViJJum creticum"
is supposed to be raisin
wine, or wine made of dried grapes; and the
meaning of the whole seems to be this : Paid
for raisin wine with comfits and spices, when
Sir S. Montford's fool was here, and exhi–
bited his merriments in the Oriel chamber.